Chapter 10

Gabby took in a couple of deep breaths as she made her way slowly around the building to the credit union, one hand out stretched behind her and her back to the wall. She concentrated on keeping her breathing as silent as possible, but still she could hear its raggedness as she took another step to round the corner. Everything about her felt fake or borrowed, which made her glad that she wasn't a real superhero. She felt foolish and almost naked in the Bat costume, the material stretched tightly around her body in a way that she had only seen on her mentor and one Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager. The only difference was, she didn't have to body to pull off such a suit. The rest of the costume (her boots, gloves, cape, utility belt and hair tie) had been borrowed from Batgirl, except for her mask, which was black and covered most of her face, leaving about two inches of skin from the corner of her right eye down to the left corner of her lips exposed in a strange Phantom of the Opera knock off. Gabby took another step, willing her body to somehow go into some sort of stealth mode, which was going to be extremely difficult considering the fact that she had just gotten out of the awkward stage in her life where her stealth mode was walking through her house without knocking something over. She stopped again, adjusting her body suit for the hundredth time.

[Your vital signs show that you heart rate has quickened. Are you alright out there?] came the gentlemanly voice in her ear. Gabby sucked in a gasp of air, as she hadn't expected to hear the voice so soon.

"Gah-!" Gabby called. "You scared me, Oracle."

[I'm terribly sorry.]

"It's okay. A pin could drop and I'd jump a mile," Gabby admitted.

[Are you afraid?]

"Yes," Gabby said quietly.

[But you are alright otherwise?] he asked again.

"Yes," Gabby repeated.

[Good.]

With that, Gabby turned the corner slowly, her back still against the wall she turned her head, craning it as far behind her and around the corner as she could. She saw a couple of police officers there, guarding the credit union now that it was windowless thanks to the Canary Cry. The police officers both saw her, but then turned their heads again as if to not acknowledge her again. She thought it was slightly odd, but she was glad that they didn't try and stop her from crossing the yellow tape across what used to be the windows. Gabby continued on towards what looked to Gabby to be a door when she saw it on the security cameras, but she wondered really if she had made the right assumption about it. It looked from this new close angle like nothing more than eccentric wallpapering, still, it was set in a very odd spot, and it was the only one of its kind. If there WASN'T something there, then Gabby couldn't understand why someone might assume that there might be something there. Gabby wished, not for the first or last time that night, that Batgirl had done this mission instead, and she wondered what could have been so damned important that Gabby had to go and get this thing NOW.

Gabby listened to the crunch of glass under her as she took a couple more steps towards the 'door'. "I am here, Oracle," she announced in a low voice, knowing that Alfred would hear it.

[At what you thought was a door?] Alfred asked.

"Yes."

[Take out the pen laser from the belt and point it to the right, near the rose design,] Alfred instructed. Gabby reached down and grabbed for the pen shape at her hip and took it out. She twisted the top portion of the pen roughly, and the red laser came on, pointing the blonde in the eye.

"Gerr-" Gabby called out, pointing the laser towards the wall. She paused for a moment as she tried to rid her eyes of stars, and then she pointed it where the butler told her to. On the wall appeared to be a highlighter-blue colored calculator, and Gabby walked up to it, holding the laser's light at the wall. "Okay... now what?" She asked, adjusting the body suit.

[Key in the following sequence: 1, 0, 7, 9, 6, 5, 3, 9, 8, 8]

"Alright..." Gabby said. She pressed her finger to the wall and was surprised when she noticed that the wall was softer under her gloved fingertips. She even felt that part of the wall go in a little bit, and like dough, slowly rise back up to form the wall again. "Weird," Gabby murmured. As soon as she got the last eight punched in, there was a click, which made the teen jump again, and then she looked to see that the 'door' was in fact a door. Well, she had known that by now, but after the doubt, she was glad to be confirmed as right. Slowly, Gabby turned her back so that it was against the wall, and she slipped inside. When she turned around again, she was surprised by how clean and well lit the small space seemed to be. There wasn't much to messy the small space, but she assumed that there would still be cobwebs and spiders and other things that Gabby as a girl wouldn't want to have an encounter with. But everything was spic and span, which was odd for a place that was supposedly forgotten about. The teen tucked that in the back of her mind as she took small steps towards the one thing in the room: a small podium with glass over it. Taking a closer look, she saw that inside the glass were what appeared (to Gabby) to be a tattoo gun and about a handful of computer parts. Gabby couldn't imagine what could be so important about these things, but she was a resident of Gotham City, now known as New Gotham. She'd grown up knowing that nothing was ever as it seemed around her city. If nothing else, her running around in a borrowed Bat suit should have told her that. She took the pouch, given to her by Alfred, out and put her hands up towards the glass. Then she paused. "Is it safe?" she asked, suddenly feeling like a caped caper, once that would make Catwoman laugh at her.

[How so, Miss Gabby?] came the reply. Gabby winced at the sound of her name being said over the comm. system, but she didn't give herself a superhero name, knowing that this was just going to be for the night. She knew that this might not have been the only time that she would have to do this, and that she would have to come up with a name sooner or later, but she didn't even have time to get scared and back out of the plan in the first place, let alone come up with a name for herself.

"It's not gonna, like... set off alarms when I touch it, will it?" she asked.

[I disarmed all security protocols on the door and the room as soon as you told me you were right there.]

"Okay. So I just lift the glass and take it, right?"

[You just lift the glass and take it,] Alfred replied with a hint of amusement in his voice. [Then you can hurry back and have some more of that ice-cream in the freezer. Everything will be alright,] he said.

"I almost don't believe you, Oracle," Gabby said. There was a soft chuckle in her ear, and it gave Gabby the confidence to lift the glass carefully (and sure enough all remained quiet), and then set it on the floor. Then she began putting the computer parts into the pouch.

As she tied the pouch onto the utility belt, she heard, [I must switch channels to help out Batgirl and the Huntress. Will you be okay going the rest of your mission alone?]

"Yeah, I suppose so. It seems pretty self explanatory from here," Gabby replied.

[Good. And Gabby?]

"Yes, Oracle?"

[Congratulations on completion of your first mission.]

"Um... thank you," Gabby replied awkwardly. She heard the familiar click of the comm. line going dead, and she shut her eyes tightly, hoping her words to Alfred were correct. She put the glass back, took a step backwards and then spun on her heel to go. In the door way was the woman she wanted to encounter the least. In 3D, she was even more intimidating that she had been on the security cameras. When it seemed Gabby never had to face this woman, she was mysterious- hot even, but nothing more than that. Now as she stood before her, Gabby tried her best not to look at the expressionless mask. She did, however notice that the bit of technology around her throat was now gone, as it had been hit at in the fight with the Huntress. This meant that she probably won't say a word to Gabby as they fought. Just the fact that there WERE about to fight meant that Gabby was in deep trouble.

Gabby stood for a moment, frozen in fear. She was glad that the figure seemed to be slightly confused by her. Was she wondering about who Gabby was? Did she think she was a wannabe Catwoman, or could she see, though her cloaked mask the Bat symbol on the blonde's chest? The two were at a slight standstill, but then Gabby's hand reached down quickly to grasp at something- anything that might do something and help Gabby get out of the credit union before they got into a full scale fight. Finally, her fingers touched around the bat-arang, and she threw it feebly at the figure. She had never used the tools on the utility belt before, but she knew, in theory, what they all did, so her throw did nothing more than hit the figure on the chest and then clatter to the ground. It had its desired effect, for the figure had flinched. This allowed for Gabby to rush the figure, her head down, her shoulder sticking out, as if she were to tackle someone in a football game. The figure went down, and Gabby straightened up. However, right when she was about to reach what used to be one of the windows of the credit union, she too slipped and fell to the glass on the floor. Gabby thought frantically as she hurried to get back on her feet. "Oracle?" she whispered frantically into the comm. link. She regretted letting Alfred leave her alone. She let her eyes scanned for a security camera, but the only one there was busted by the Canary Cry the night before. 'Damn it! That was my time to escape. Now I bet I just pissed her off!'

Sure enough, the woman was faster, and she put her hand up. A blast of energy hit Gabby full in the chest just as she'd staggered to her feet, and she was thrown backwards so hard that she hit against the far back wall of the credit union. Though she tried, she couldn't remain on her feet and she landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. "Well, it was either that or the Canary Cry," Gabby muttered to herself Even as she said this, she wasn't sure which she would rather endure, as her whole body seemed to scream from the impact of that. She wondered how the non-powered people in Buffy, like Xander or Giles, were able to live through some of the things that beat the crap out of them, but then Gabby remembered that it was all TV. Gabby tried not to let out a groan as the figure advanced on her quickly. "The fact that you came back two nights in a row, made up..." Gabby winced as she tried to step away from the approaching woman. "... made up this scheme just to come back and get this again... means that it's important to you... but dangerous to anyone else. It means you can't have it."

This made the figure stop moving, and her head cocked to the side as if to say 'Oh really?' Gabby could tell that the figure didn't see her as any sort of threat, especially since she was somewhat limping now. The figure didn't otherwise say a word, and Gabby didn't think that she would. When Gabby saw the figure's hand once again move upward as if to administer another blast of energy towards her, Gabby ducked to the left, allowing the glass under Batgirl's boots to spin her at a quickened pace and to aid her this time. The blast put a dent in the wall where Gabby once was, and the figure brought her hand up to point again at Gabby, who ducked back to where she was before, narrowly missing the second blast except for on her arm, which rushed backwards to the wall. Gabby heard before she felt the slap of the hand against the wall. "Oracle? Batgirl? Anybody?" Gabby called out, knowing that no one would hear her. The figure stopped for a second, unsure, and then she rushed to Gabby, reaching for the pouch. "NGH-! Gabby grunted at her as she remembered her mission. She didn't want to lose this one, especially not after Alfred had congratulated her on a job well done. Using her good hand to slap the woman's hand away, Gabby rolled over along the wall again and began to run. She knew she wouldn't get far.

Seeing as her other tactics weren't going to work, and seeing as her opponent was doing better than she expected, the figure hurried after this girl. Gabby felt her uninjured arm getting tugged, and she was forced to spin around. She was met with a strong blow to the jaw, which had her slipping to the ground. The figure hit like a girl, and for that, Gabby was grateful, but that didn't mean the blow didn't hurt. The figure stood before her, her shoulders slumped almost in pity, as if she hadn't wanted to do that when Gabby was already injured.

Gabby felt her lip swell and drip with blood as her arm throbbed in pain. She wanted to say 'screw this', but she didn't want to know what would happen if the likes of this woman were to get her hands on the computer pieces she held in possession right then. Who knew, this woman could have been working for some of the bigger players of the Gotham Underground. Plus, part of her was afraid of going back to Wayne Manor empty handed and all messed up like this. As the figure came close to her again, Gabby took in a deep breath and rushed her again. This time, the figure stopped moving and braced herself, but even then the two of them went down, Gabby landing on top of the woman. The figure tried to use her energy blast, but Gabby kept hitting her hand away from her. Gabby felt herself being bucked off of her, and she forced some dirty thoughts out of her mind as she tried not to cry out. Each time the woman tried to kick and buck her off of her, Gabby's arm tingled, causing a new jolt of pain to rush through her. Tears fell under the mask, but she held on.

Then, she hit the only part of the figure that was close to her, which was the side of her head. The figure twisted her body in a way that impressed Gabby, and the wannabe superhero was rolling away from the other woman. Gabby screamed out again, and then she rolled over again, off of her injured arm. As soon as she did so, she saw the figure take off her gloves and reach forward. Too late, Gabby realized what she was doing, as she remembered what the Huntress had said about this woman, how with one touch, this figure could see inside your mind. Gabby let out a gasp and quickly hit her hand away, but a finger had already touched where the figure had hit her, and Gabby felt a small fuzziness in her head. She rolled away again, this time minding the arm. When she looked back, she saw that the pouch had come undone in the scuffle, and the figure was hurrying towards it to pick it up. "No no no no no," Gabby moaned as she stood up and tried to run towards the figure. The mystery woman held her hand out, and Gabby was suddenly forced to the floor. The two of them watched each other for a moment, Gabby wondering what the figure was going to do next, and the figure unsure what to do with the image she got in her head from the brief contact of her index finger to the girl's jaw. Then, the figure shot off. Gabby hurried out of the credit union after her, but as soon as she got to the sidewalk, she saw that it was deserted. She had no way of knowing where the figure had gone.

Gabby noticed that the police men who were there before were now gone, and part of her wondered if perhaps they were working for the figure as a way to alert her of her presence so she could steal the computer components after Gabby had gone in to get them. She had to admit, it was a good plan. But if that was so, what about the prison? What about that financial building? Gabby sighed, rubbing her arm. It didn't hurt as much now, but there was still a slight tingling sensation that told her that she was going to bruise there. She flexed her arm, knowing that wasn't the only place she was going to bruise. She tried to think of an excuse for her mother, as she knew her mom would want to know. The last thing the teen needed was for her mother to think that her imaginary girlfriend was abusive and decide to start keeping a closer watch on her.

Gabby continued to look around frantically for the figure, for any sign of movement. "Damn it!" Gabby suddenly let out angrily. She couldn't believe that she had let the woman get away with the thing she was out to get that night. She didn't have much time to brood on it, however, as she heard the familiar sound of the rumbling Batbike. Sure enough, a second later, the Batbike rounded a corner so quickly that Gabby was surprised Barbara hadn't wiped out. The Batbike came to a complete and perfect stop, but Batgirl had already hopped off of it and was walking quickly towards Gabby. The look of death on the redhead's face made the teen back up.

"What is wrong with you? Come here," Batgirl demanded. Gabby stopped walking backwards and Barbara took her jaw into her fingers gently, positioning it into the lip. Despite this, Gabby winced. Batgirl murmured an explicative towards a certain butler, and Gabby's eyebrows rose. She hadn't expected that at all. "Are you okay?"

Gabby was hesitant, but she nodded. "Nothing a night of sleep and some-"

"Come on, this is me you're talking to," Batgirl interrupted.

"Okay, I'm hurt, but- but I'll live, you know...?" Gabby said.

"Was it her?"

"Yes... it was her." Even as the teen said this, a tear fell down her cheek, suddenly feeling the humiliation of the night and the fact that she hadn't even gotten what she allowed herself to get injured for. "I... I lost it, Barbara," Gabby said so softly that even if others around, only the redhead would have heard it.

"Oh Gabby," Batgirl said, drawing the teen into her, "that doesn't matter." Gabby hissed when she felt Batgirl's arms around her back, and the redhead took a step back to again inspect her. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here earlier to help you fight her. Alfred shouldn't have sent you out. No matter what the circumstance, whether or not he was so sure that woman wouldn't be here. I don't blame you, and if Alfred does, I'll pop him one for you."

Though Gabby knew that Barbara wouldn't assault the man, the image of it did make her feel a little better. Still, she felt guilty that she hadn't been able to retrieve the item. Before she could say anything, however, there was the sound of rushing air, and then the softest of thumps that Gabby wouldn't have heard had she never worked with Alfred and Barbara in the night life. The Huntress stood before them under the streetlight, and Gabby locked eyes with her. The feral woman looked at the teen sympathetically. "Everything okay?" she asked quietly, looking away from Gabby then to Batgirl.

"We're fine," the redhead said crisply, but even as she said that, she seemed to look to Gabby to make sure she hadn't just told a lie. Gabby nodded.

"Yeah," Gabby added with a small nod.

"You left pretty quickly," the Huntress continued as she stared at Batgirl, who kept her eyes everywhere but on the feral woman.

"I had to make sure that my partner was okay," Batgirl said, again tightly. Though Gabby was thrilled that Batgirl had referred her as her partner, she wondered what had happened to make the redhead speak to the Huntress this way. The last she was aware, the two women were so close to doing it.

"Okay," Huntress said softly, and Gabby felt bad for her. The Huntress looked ten times more hurt than Gabby felt at the moment. It was almost enough to forgive the woman for all of the times she called her the Nervous Tick. As if to sense this as Gabby's line of thought, the Huntress turned her head to look at her again and said, "So you're the voice."

"In the flesh," Gabby replied when she heard the teasing in the Huntress' tone. She let out a small laugh, but then winced again as she felt the soreness in her back and arm.

"I've got to take her home," Batgirl said.

"Sure," Huntress replied. All of them knew that the Huntress wanted to say something, to protest somehow, but decided against it. Instead, she said, "See you around?"

Barbara didn't reply to this as both she and Gabby made it to the Batbike. Gabby stared at it for a second as she felt a hint of dread. She watched as Batgirl hopped on expertly, and waited for the teen to join her. Slowly, Gabby got onto the bike behind her mentor and felt little awkward. Once she settled in, she put her hands on Batgirl's shoulder because she felt it would have been weird if she were to wrap her arms around her English Lit teacher's waist in order to hold on. As if to know these thoughts, Batgirl said, "It may seem weird, but if you fall off, you're going to hurt more than you do now," over the engine as it came to life again. Gabby slowly put her arms around Batgirl's waist so that her hands linked on her mentor's stomach and she tried not to over think it. The two were suddenly off, headed back towards Wayne Manor.

Across the street, she watched as two of the three women left on the motorbike, one of them being the one she had fought. the feral woman seemed to watch them go until they were both out of sight and hearing range before she looked around and jumped almost two stories up on top of the street lamp and then to the fire escape. From there, the woman jumped twice more before she was on the roof of that building. She then looked down, and the figure was almost certain that the feral woman could see her, but she was gone suddenly. The figure turned and left her hiding spot and walked down the empty street, turning a corner and spotting immediately the dark car running idly in front of her. She went around to the passenger seat when she saw that there was no one but the driver inside, and opened the door. "Shit, you scared me with that mask o' yers, Kid."

"Don't call me Kid," came the automatic reply.

"Alright. No harm done. The others already made it back," the driver said. She nodded. She could care less about 'the others'. With that, there was silence in the car. The driver didn't ask her anything about her or her life, and she liked it like that. So many times, the goon of the week would try and talk to her, simply because she was related to the boss, but she didn't like any of them enough to cough up any information. The car moved for ten minutes, and as soon as the car stopped and the figure got out, she could hear the faint screams from Arkham Asylum. She closed her eyes and tried not to think of the time three years ago, and she took in a deep breath as she wished once again that they could just move away from this house. The figure heard the door open.

"That took longer than I like, puddin'. You had me worried." said a petite woman with blonde pixie-ish hair and slightly vacant green eyes. The figure stared for a second at the woman, but she took a few steps towards her with the pouch she'd taken off of the girl she had fought.

"I'm sorry I worried you, but the timeline of your plan was a little off. It worked, though."

"Did you get it?"

"We got it."

"Oh good!" the woman said. "Tell me all about it while I heat you up some left overs." As the woman stretched out her hand, she placed it around the figure's shoulder. The figure took off the mask and black wig, revealing white-blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Sounds good, Aunt Harleen," Dinah said with a small smile as she made her way inside.