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"I can't do it. I'm not him." Dixie says. She's pacing in front of the case holding one of the older versions of Batman's armour and Barbara's watching her through one of the cave's cameras. Dixie stops and stares at the empty shell of a suit. Barbara angles the camera so that she can see precisely what Dixie is looking at. As she suspected, Dixie's positioned herself so that the reflection of her face appears to be surrounded by his cowl. "I'll never convince anyone I'm Batman."
Dixie releases the catch of the case and removes the cape to drape it around her shoulders. She's tall for a woman but it dwarfs her slim, muscular frame; the hem pooling around her ankles in a sea of black.
"It can always be altered," Barbara says. But she doesn't like the idea any more than Dixie. Dixie had tried once before and it had all been wrong. But -- "Someone has to -- Jason…" Barbara trails off.
Dixie nods and starts pacing again, still wearing the cape. It trails along the ground behind her, slowing her down and inhibiting her usual graceful stride. "Ugh. It's like a Kevlar version of my wedding dress! I can barely move, let alone fight."
Barbara doesn't want to remember Dixie and Kor's failed wedding. It is mixed up in so many horrible memories. In a fit of self-torment, she'd made the mistake of looking up the photos and that puffball monstrosity had haunted her dreams. She snaps, "You must. Tim's too young and Cass isn't ready to lead."
Dixie recoils at that, and Barbara regrets it, but Dixie turns towards Barbara's image on the screen. "Gotham needs a Batman," she says. "I just -- I can't be Batwoman either." She runs her hands through her hair in frustration. "There's already a Batwoman. I don't really know who she is but that would be confusing and I don't think it would help."
"You don't have to be Batwoman just because you're a woman," Barbara points out. That first glimpse of Helena wearing the Bat symbol still hurts, but she has to mention it. Even after all these years, and after everything Cass had done in the uniform to paint over it. "As much as I hated it at the time, Helena had the right idea. When Batman was needed she became the Bat. Woman didn't come into it."
"But that's not me. I can't just damp down who I am. I am a woman. Hiding night after night, it would kill me, Barbara."
It's true. Dixie lives and breathes her femininity. A dangerous, powerful femininity, but femininity none the less. Nightwing's body may be covered in Kevlar from head to toe, but the skin-tight costume, the flirting, the acrobatics, and her astonishing grace, shout out woman. It’s impossible to forget.
Alfred, who's been so quiet that Barbara had almost forgotten that he was in the cave, walks over and puts his hand on Dixie's shoulder. "Dixie, my dear, it isn't all lost. You can be Batman, or The Bat." He acknowledges Barbara with a nod and she smiles faintly in return. "If that is what you choose and you will do it well. You come from a performing background, so play to your strengths. Make it a performance. Hide yourself in the shadows, swoop down like dark vengeance, be the darkness in the night and show Gotham that the Bat is still there to protect her."
Even under the cape, Barbara can see that some of the tension has left Dixie's shoulders. How does Alfred always know the right thing to say?
"You're right," Dixie says to Alfred. She lifts the cape from her shoulders and holding it high, she twirls around, letting its bulk fan out around her. "I'll give them the best show in the world."