Oracle and the Network
Startup 3.0
The city of Metropolis was a very different animal than Gotham, Helena Bertinelli noted as she waited for her friend. You couldn't stand around on a street like this waiting in front of a hotel, you'd be just asking to be mugged. Or suspected of being a robber. And anyone so obviously new in town would be conned, too, with some 'helpful citizen' offering skills as a native guide only to manage to sell you one of the major Gotham bridges.
"Helena!" Zinda Blake grinned as the tall blonde nearly tackled the shorter woman, ruffling her hair affectionately. "Been awhile," she said as she hugged her.
Helena laughed as the black haired woman struggled free of her grip. "Take it easy," she grinned, "it's good to see you, too."
Zinda put a arm over her shoulders as they both looked up at the hotel. "Here we go again," she noted cheerfully, "you ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Helena answered, her voice conveying her mixed feelings. On one hand she was glad to be back here with her friends, but she was also more than a bit irritated at Babs disbanding the team without giving any of them a say.
"Aw, cheer up," Zinda lead them, across the lobby to the elevator, where she used her key to activate the route to the penthouse.
The upper floor had a bare look to it, apparently because furnature still had to be ordered in. There were chairs and a table in one room, a bad or two in others, but that was nearly it. But when they opened the hidden door they discovered Oracle's sanctum had been restored to it's former glory, and if Helena was right it had even been upgraded a bit.
"Helena, Zinda," Barbara Gordon turned in her wheelchair, a warm smile lighting up the redhead's face. She rolled toward them, hugging a slightly startled Helena first, then Zinda.
"Hey, boss," Zinda grinned at her warmly as she hugged her back.
Babs looked up at both women as she surprised then again by saying, "I'm sorry."
Helena looked mildly stunned, "Huh?"
Babs smiled wryly, "I should have talked to you both before I decided to shut the team down. I certainly owed you both more, but I was so caught up in my own problems I totally lost track. Will you forgive me?"
"Boss, we both knew you were under stress," Zinda smiled warmly at her, "it's okay."
"This time," Helena said with a half smile, "but if you do it again, I'll kick your ass." Somewhat more seriously she asked, "Understood?"
"Fair," Babs nodded, "come on, Charlie's waiting and I have a recruit I want you to meet. She's a old friend of mine and Dinah's."
"Sounds interesting," Zinda noted as she walked beside Helena and Babs into the meeting room just off of the computer center. A round table had been installed with comfy, space age chairs, one of which was occupied by a old friend.
"Hey Zee, Helena!" Charlotte 'Charlie' Gage-Radcliffe yelled as the redheaded teen bounced across the room, getting a friendly hug from each of them. "About time you got here," she complained, "the old lady has had me assembling computers all week."
"Poor thing," Helena said with mock sympathy even as she scanned the room. After a moment she was the Asian woman standing off to one side, her black clothes and quiet manner seemingly making her invisible.
"Cassandra Cain," Babs gestured her forward, "I'd like you to meet Helena and Zinda."
"We've met," Helena said with a great deal of respect.
Cassandra Cain was the daughter of Lady Shiva and was raised by the deadly assassin David Cain, made into one of the most deadly women alive. After her first kill Cass had been so horrified she fled Cain and the life he planned, living off the streets for years. Curiously she had ended up as a 'irregular' working for Oracle during No Mans Land, the time Gotham city had been written off by the American government as unsalvagable. There she stopped one of her father's assassinations then joined the allies of Batman, eventually becoming Batgirl.
"It's been a while," Cass bowed slightly, her face nearly expressionless.
"I know about the whole going bad thing," Zinda noted cheerfully, "but that was all Deathstroke, right?"
"Something like that," Cass sighed as Babs rolled by to the table, "it's complicated."
"I'd like to invite Cass to join our organization," Babs said as she activated a monitor built into the table, "but not without your agreement."
"I vote yes," Charlie said cheerfully. "Cass has offered to train me!"
'I don't know if that's good or bad,' Helena admitted. Aloud she answered, "I agree, she can join. We could use a fighting expert of her level."
"I'll make it unanimous," Zinda agreed as the pilot walked over to the fridge. "Got any beer in here?" she asked, peering inside.
Babs sighed, "Later. We have a few ideas I'd like to run by you...."
"Really?" Helena asked as she, Cass and Charlie sat down too.
Following that Babs gave them both a general briefing on how she wanted the team to act, as well as expanding her roster of agents. "The people in this room will continue to be my primary team," she finished, "but I intend to have experts available to assist us on operations where needed."
"Like who?" Charlie asked as she munched on some cheetos.
"I'm feeling out several contacts now," Babs shrugged, "including a Gotham PD officer or two, an agent of Checkmate, as well as several others."
"It isn't Spy Smasher, is it?" Helena asked warily, having had more than enough of the overly driven woman for one lifetime.
"No, not Katrina," Babs shook her head as a flicker of concern appeared in her eyes, "she dropped off the radar recently."
"You aren't actually worried about her, are you boss?" Zinda asked, shaking her head. "The woman's a nutjob."
Babs shrugged as she said, "She was a friend, once."
"So," Cass asked mildly as she decided to change the subject, "where will be operating?"
"Where ever we're needed," Babs answered her briskly. "I've got our plane Aerie One and our helicopter Aerie Two being refitted now, and I've hacked into the JLA teleporters for any emergency jumps," she smirked.
"You hacked the JLA?" Charlie blinked, a cheeto falling from slack lips.
"Again," Helena sounded more amused than shocked. "I'm surprised they didn't bring you in for computer security at least," she noted.
"They probably should have," Babs admitted. "Though Batman is no slouch."
Privately Helena rather suspected that Black Canary, the former third member of the Birds of Prey, had been rather uncomfortable calling in Babs. Considering that Dinah had left the Birds to spend more time with her adopted daughter only to promptly lose said daughter and join the JLA... it must have felt kind of awkward.
"Looks like we're about ready to go," Zinda noted with a grin.
"Just about," Babs agreed, "and not a moment too soon."
To be continued....
