The Firing of Oracle
The idea for this story came from many places but mainly from "JLA: Strength in Numbers" and "Green Lantern: Baptism of fire".
The story and characters all belong to DC Comics and I'm just using them for a bit , the story is all my own work though so if there are any mistakes or it upsets people then it's all my fault .
Timeline: set after "Strength in numbers" and "Baptism of fire" but Gotham is still in one piece.
All / any criticism would be appreciated, thanks in advance for takin' the time to read this, TA!
Chapter 1
Outside the hail bounced off the pavement causing the citizens of Gotham to Scurry for cover. In her apartment the computer beeped,
"Oh well, here we go again!"
She rolled her wheelchair over in front of the monitor and hit the return key. The connection was made in an instant and the caller's identity flashed upon the screen. With a smile she enabled the video link, seeing his face always made her smile.
"Hello Boy Wonder, what can I do for you tonight?"
" Well if you put it like that…."
Their playful banter made them both giggle, Nightwing loved to hear Oracle laugh. He could see her face redden as the mild innuendo sunk in.
"Serious Babs, I need you to work your magic, I need you to identify some one for me."
" Who?"
Nightwing thought back to the scene he had been part of less than ten minutes before. Then as now he had been perched on the roof of Gotham police headquarters when it had appeared a huge yellow blob just floating in front of him not moving just floating there. He had tried to get a bit of distance from the entity but it had followed silently, keeping the distance between them constant. Without warning the blob morphed into a humanoid shape a replica of Nightwing but pure yellow.
"Where is Green Lantern?"
It's voice was cold, gravely like the voice he used to intimidate the crooks he caught.
"Do you need help?"
Dick started to approach, as he touched the entity there was a flash of light and he was flung backwards into the bat signal. The entity looked down on him,
"I am Koli and his life is mine!"
Nightwing regained his feet slowly keeping his gaze on the entity,
"Well so much for playing nice."
With that he sprinted forwards launching himself into the air to hit his opponent with a flying kick. As he was about to make contact the entity faded leaving only his words echoing around the rooftop.
With a shake of his head Nightwing brought himself back to the present,
"He's a shape shifter, bright yellow and calls himself Koli, Oh and one more thing I don't think that he's one of the good guys.
After a fairly routine patrol Nightwing sped to the clock tower. Silently opening the window, Nightwing climbed into her apartment. After removing his mask he crept up on his flame haired fiancée and bent to kiss her on the neck.
"Haven't you learnt yet that you can't creep up on me, I am the all knowing all seeing Oracle!"
Turning her around and stooping he kissed her letting his mouth convey his feelings for her .
"Any news on my mysterious guest?"
"At the moment I'm running searches through all the major data banks: JLA , FBI, S.T.A.R. labs and Interpol but so far nothing".
Nightwing kissed her again ,
"I'm going to have to go to New York and find Green lantern."
Oracle looked at him with a mischievous grin ,
"I've got his number here in my little black database."
" Oh you have, have you?"
"Yes!"
"Nah, your OK, I'll ask Donna to help me out."
Laughing at Oracle's expression Nightwing moved to the window.
"Dick, be careful."
"Always !", with that he disappeared into the night .
Chapter 2
He gunned the cycle and over took the lorry in front , the long drive had given him the chance to review the scene that had played out before him . Possible important facts he mused , the thing is yellow so he may be expecting to come up against Hal's old ring , the thing has the ability to shape shift some how and can produce a force field of some sort .
With these thoughts running through his head he pulled up in front of the Titans tower . Nightwing smirked to himself , " Lets see how the security is on this place ".
Pulling out a lockpick from a concealed compartment in his glove Nightwing started to pick the lock. Three minutes later he was standing in a corridor looking round .
" The old place never changes does it Wingster?" an out of breath voice gasped.
Without turning around Nightwing replied,
"Not so speedy any more are you Arsenal?"
Nightwing turned and walked over to Roy his face a massive grin.
"It's good to see you Dick but I get the feeling that something is wrong, what's up?"
Nightwing ran through the strange encounter.
"Well Kyle is off planet at the moment so he should be safe enough, so you can relax and tell me about you an Babs."
Dick relaxed and a big smile spread over his face as he thought about his love. The two friends walked towards Arsenal's quarters and started to reminisce. Then with a jolt it hit Dick stopping him mid sentence ,
Kyle wasn't the only Green Lantern!
Dick spun to face his friend,
"Roy does Gardener still have Warriors?"
"Sure, why….?" As the implications sunk in ,
"Want a hand?"
But Nightwing had vanished.
"I hate it how he always manages to do that to me!"
Chapter 3
From the top of an adjacent building Nightwing looked down into the Bar owned by former Green lantern Guy Gardener. The last customer had left into the summer's night half an hour ago and Guy was alone clearing up.
From out of no where an amorphous yellow blob appeared and sank through the wall into the bar. Nightwing launched himself in to the night leaping bounding swinging and somersaulting to land on the pavement as his feet touched the pavement the glass window exploded and Guy came flying out of the bar to land in a heap at Nightwing's feet.
Guy struggled to his feet and thanks to his Vuldarian physiology shook off the strike. The blob now a yellow replica of guy floated closer ,
"You are not the one I seek ".
Behind the aggressor the broken neon light touched a pool of alcohol and the being was engulfed in a wave of heat . As it turned with almost a look of panic in its eyes Nightwing drew his escrima sticks and attacked closing the distance with a lunge punch Nightwing span and delivered a back fist to Koli 's temple . Koli staggered but did not go down.
It's afraid of the fire Nightwing thought as he altered his strategy to push the being back towards the flames. As they got closer the heat grew unbearable and sweat started to run into Nightwings eyes. In a last ditch effort Nightwing jumped and scissor kicked Koli in the knee and the solar plexus as he landed the form crashed down onto the pavement .
"What the hell did you think you were doing " Guy raged as he closed on the prone form . Nightwing turned and attempted to pacify the furious Warrior .
"Saving you ," he replied in The Voice that he had learnt from the Batman , the voice that no one argued with .
"Well whoopee for you but Koli has gone!"
Nightwing turned and wasn't surprised to see the fading form of Koli .
"How else was I going to learn where he was based," he grinned at Gardner
"Punk kids " Guy replied as he turned away but Nightwing was already gone.
Chapter 4
Based back on his perch overlooking Warriors Nightwing called Oracle something wasn't right . After a around a minute with no reply Nightwing's sense of unease began to grow. He tapped in the code for the Batcave and was instantly heard the voice of the present Robin.
" Hi Dick , what can I do for you"
"Tim ,I need you to do a cross reference for me as Babs is not responding at the moment. I need you to look up the name Koli for me ."
"Sure thing ……"
As he waited several things started to fall in to place, Koli could change shape , was afraid of fire , could float or fly and could turn invisible . Guy had known the aliens name and Dick was now sure he was dealing with an alien .
"I was talking to Kyle before Tim and he said that your Young Justice was becoming a formidable team ."
"Yeah , well Green Lantern is a nice guy"
This was the final piece of the puzzle , everything clicked into place , she had wanted him out of Gotham for a reason , but why ?
"Listen , I'm beat I'm gonna head back to Gotham for some sleep this trail is getting me no where ".
He waited ten minutes and then as he had thought his communicator went off ,
"Yes Tim ?"
"I've got the results of the search for you ."
"It's OK Tim , I've got a lead I'm gonna head for Metropolis as the tracer signal leads there.
Two could play at misdirection , after all now that he had stopped to think it was obvious who was behind this .
Chapter 5 - The Phoenix rises
As he neared the clock Tower the Yellow blob appeared in front of him , Nightwing stopped his cycle and stepped off after all he didn't want to ruin his bike .
"Ok ,Koli its you or me "
The blob took his form and the two figures became a whirlwind of techniques as they punched grappled and tried to throw each other.
"Well Koli or should I say Jonn How long to you have to detain me for ?"
At his question the figure wavered for a moment and J'onn J'onzz took his more usual form .
"When did you figure it out?" J'onn's voice was quiet but still held a ring of confidence and authority.
"There was something strange from the beginning but I couldn't figure out what but when after the fight and all the details I gave Tim and him still not yelling Martian at me then I knew that I was sent on this wild goose chase for a reason . Besides the name Koli or should I say Loki, the Norse god of mischief was a bit of a give away."
"Oracle would appreciate it if we could 'fight' for a little while longer ."
Nightwing smiled and fell back into a fighting stance ,
"What ever Babs wants Koli!"
Nightwing attacked with an athletic flip which J'onn parried . To the group of observers the two looked as if they were dancing rather than fighting but each new how deadly a dance it was .
"Well here goes!"
With a graceful flip one of the group sailed out into the night and swang from a thin line to land behind the 'alien'.
Dick stopped as he watched the costumed stranger join in the fight , only one person moved that way but it was impossible it couldn't be .
"Babs," Dicks voice was little more than a whisper as he watched his love land from a back flip and remove her mask .
Minutes later surrounded by the rest of the Justice League, Nightwing was still in shock as he stared at his love.
"So a few months ago when Batman realised that Kyle should be able he to give a little of his power we tried it . Then after putting me through training Batman decided that this should be our graduation so they came up with this plan to uncover their surprise .
"Bu… but why?"
The Batman stepped forward and put his arms round his son's shoulders.
"Could you think of a better wedding present for you and your new partner!"
Afterward
Its just my opinion but I think that Nightwing and Oracle belong together , but then again I'm just an old fashioned romantic at heart .
I also have a new respect for those people who create the names for new heroes it took me ages and the best I could think of was Phoenix for the new emerging Oracle and its hardly original .
This is for all the stories by people like Syl , Dannell and Terri who made me want to add to the mythos however badly .