The even smaller girl says, "And I'm Xantastic. Im Batgirl's sidekick."

Skye, "Suppose, if your here you know where you are. This is the Stair, the Grand Stair. You were able to come through a Door, so I thought you would know that."

Xantastic inhales and puffs up her chest like a little kid, "Course I knew that."

Barbara looked at Skye with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I didn't know that! "
She glanced with annoyance at Xantastic
"My 'sidekick' hasn't been quite as chatty about this as I would have liked."
She looked back up at them.
"This Jessica Gordon sent Xan here with a key for me. Sort of one of those 'if anything happens to me' kind of thing.  What is this place?  Xan said something about a connection between dimensions or something, but that was about it."

She looked at Dean, blinking in surprise and wonder.
"Well...I'm 18 and I occasionally go out at night, though I try not to break curfew more than I have to.  And my Dad is the Police Commissioner of Gotham, not the Mayor, though....  "
She looked at him almost suspiciously.
"He's mentioned more than once that he could do a better job as Mayor than the current guy."

Barbara paused to take a breath.
"There is a LOT going on here, but I'm willing to learn.  I'm a fast learner, after all."

Xantastic looks at Batgirl, "That's my secret ID !"


Skye, "Well, yes this Stair is known by many names but The Grand Stair is the most common. It does in fact connect to an infinity of worlds each Door you see leading to another world. Some lead to the same world, others lead to shadow if the world passed them is gone or destroyed. I don't know this Jessica Gordon but if she had the key and now you have it, she was at the very least the Warden of your world, if not a Warden of the Grand Stair. These two are new to the stair as well, your welcome to join us if you wish."

  Dean nods as Barbara corrected him.  “That’s right, commissioner, not mayor.  It’s been a long time since I read those.  The reruns on tv were pretty good though.  Well Barbara, or do you prefer Batgirl?  Skye was just about to show us her spaceship, and teach Jill some stuff.  Then we were thinking about trying to find some bad guys to thwart and a new world for Skye to watch over.  Somewhere along the line I’m hoping to track down a murderer, and maybe we can find your missing cousin along the way.  Any of that of interest to you?”

Barbara looked down at Xan with an amused but apologetic look on her face.
"It is?  Really?  No offense, but it's not very creative."

She nodded to Skye thoughtfully.
"Well....I usually work alone, but this is a big case, so I'll take whatever help I can get.   So, you're saying that this key I've got belonged to a 'Warden'?  Is that like a guardian or some kind of hall monitor?  I need to find this Warden, I guess, and give this key back to them."

She tried to study everyone, seemingly evaluating them as allies.

To Dean, she smiled sheepishly.
"I usually prefer 'Batgirl' when I'm in costume, but I guess you can call me either one.  Just don't tell my Dad what I'm doing.  He thinks I'm studying abroad for the semester."
Then she blinked in confusion.
"Wait....TV show????"

  Dean winces.  “Yeah, it was actually Batman’s show, but you were played as a special appearance periodically.  They were pretty spot on with the look.  Gotta admit, when they showed her batcycle whip by in the opening credits I was pretty excited.  Had a big crush on her as a kid.  Her and Genie.  They came on right after each other. I Dream of Genie first, then Batman.  After that, my mom would call me for supper.”

Xan looks up at Batgirl and her little mouth drops open when she calls her real name not that creative. She turns to avoid people looking at her. Shoulders slumping.

Skye says, "May I see your Key ? You don't have to hand it to me but I could tell if it is a special Key in relation to this place."

She would be able to confirm that it is if Batgirl does.

Barbara listened to the tall, dark, and handsome man intently.
"Batman has a TV show??  I'm not surprised, I suppose.  That guy is incredible! "
She blushed when he mentioned a crush on 'her', and she nervously pushed a lock of red hair behind her ear as she looked down shyly.
"I've actually been saving up for a motorcycle, to be honest.  Good to know that it'll look good for me."

Barbara looked at Skye with almost a look of annoyance, for interrupting her conversation with Dean.
She held up her key for the other woman to see.

  Dean nods.  “It’s good to know there really is a Batgirl out there, keeping people safe, fighting crime, and all that.  I suppose the downside is that along with superheroes, there are supervillains too.  In our world it’s not so clear cut.  The bad guys are usually smaller-time, but way nastier.  Not just looking to steal some one of a kind jewel, or controlling the weather, or robbing banks.  In our world they hook people on drugs that ruin their lives, murder, rape...all kinds of bad stuff.  The prisons are so overcrowded that the bad guys usually get let out early. “ It’s one of a mess.”

Her face filled with sympathy,  Barbara looked up at the dark haired man.
"That sounds terrible!  I'm so sorry you have to go through that.  I definitely try to help regular people,  as well as thwart super villains and invading aliens.  I spent a whole year beating up muggers and car jackers in Gotham before looking to fight a named bad guy.  I've always felt that regular people deserve protection as much as government officials and the like"

  “In our world, most of the politicians are corrupt.  The people actually need more protection against them.  My work isn’t too glamorous, but it helps regular, hard working people.  We all do what we can do, right?”

She smiled at this honest, earnest man.
'That was brilliantly said, Dean.  Yes, corruption is a huge problem in my world as well.  That's  why I'm in school to learn how to use my gifts better to help humanity. "

"Keep a close eye on them then Batgirl, I lost my world and trillions of people to corrupt politicians. They saved themselves and left everyone else to die."

Skye looked at them all then started walking the stair.
Right off the bat (no pun intended) after an hour Jill will be exhausted the stairs go down, up, around, their are halls, ramps on occasion ladders. Batgirl is the next to grow tired. Xantastic and Dean seem to be doing fine and Skye only slows down if asked too.

Jill looks to Dean, "Dean my legs are burning this is almost like pole work." She rubs her legs.

Barbara,  who had thought she was in good physical condition,  was a bit alarmed by how quickly,  relatively speaking,  she was getting tired.  These people were in INCREDIBLE  shape!!   To distract herself,  she looked at Jill.
"Pole work?  Are you a pole vaulter,  or something like that?"

  The pace is grueling, but nothing Dean couldn’t handle, not by a long shot.

  “Jill, piggyback time.  Hop up.  Nobody left behind.  Barbara, I can probably carry you, if you want.”

  He had helped guys in boot camp, guys that outweighed the two ladies combined.  He’d manage.  The two could get to know each other while he did the grunt work.

Jill looks at the young superhero, "Something like that yeah. Just all these stairs. I feel like this is definitely exercise. Warden's must have to be in good shape."

Xantastic walks back over, "Yes, when Jessica and I are here it is a lot of climbing there are places where the stairs are huge made for giants and she has to carry me."

Blushing brightly,  Barbara smiled awkwardly
"Um....if it's not a bother?"

  Dean smiles. “No problem at all.  I’ve  never left a man behind, let alone beautiful women, and it ain’t about to start now.”

  With that he scoops up Barbara and crouches enough for Jill to climb on his back before continuing up the stairs.

Feeling extremely torn between not wanting to be some "damsel in distress", and being very content in the powerful man's arms.

  As they continue the ascent, Dean reminisces a little.  “ We were on a mission in the mountains in Pakistan.  Mortar shell took three of our guys down, bleeding bad.  No helicopters available for evac, due to all the inbound fire.  Sarge tied off tourniquets and we hoofed it back to the the closest camp.  Eight miles in full gear hauling guys my size.  I carried two just like this, Sarge and Talker took turns carrying the other guy.  We all made it back out.  Bad times.”

Barbara looked up at Dean, clearly impressed
"Wow.....the terrible things you've been through,  Dean.  I'm so sorry, but I'm glad you were there for your friends and comrades in arms.  That must have been very scary"

  “It’s just how I roll, y’know?  The bad times don’t last, and they toughen you up for when they come around again.  Every part of our lives, our experiences, they all go into who we are.  You can let them break you, or force them to break on you like a wave on a boulder.  There was a series of movies about a boxer.  I forget which one it was, but he makes this great speech about life.  Goes like this:

  The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.  It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!“

  He does it in his best Stallone imitation, which is admittedly pretty bad.

Barbara watched the man with abject fascination
"That's a fascinating philosophy.   The guy who said it originally sounds like he had a head injury,  but he was definitely wise "
As much as being carried seemed to feel a bit demeaning to her sense of independence,  but she had to admit Dean's arms felt so nice

Skye turns a moment, "I forget sometimes, people not used to the stairs can grow quite weary upon them. Dean that is an amazing story, perhaps I should hire you."

Xantastic bounces along like a kid full of energy not having slowed down a bit.
Her hammer having miraculously been slipped into a pocket and no longer seen.

Skye says, "If we need to stop and rest just let me know. Better that then to suffer dehydration or other problems like charlie horse."

She will then go back to leading the group. Now the area they are walking through looks like an ancient temple with alcoves and statues watching from deep shadows.

Though still distracted by the feeling of strong arms around her, Barbara looked around the temple intently,  her natural curiosity getting the best of her