Oracle and the Network
"Oh wow!" Batgirl grinned. Stephane Brown had been in the Batgirl uniform only a few weeks, but she was enjoying herself immensely. She knew Batman and such liked to maintain a grim, serious manner, but honestly... this was so much fun!
Manhunter sighed to herself softly. Kate Spenser was a somewhat reluctant hero to start with, and she had her doubts about this job. Still, she owed Oracle a few favors and had found information Oracle had provided very useful. But she had her doubts about her two teammates.
Question nodded to them both, her eerie, faceless mask making both woman a bit uncomfortable. She was almost impossible to read. "Come on," she said simply, leading them in through the break in the wall.
"Any idea what the crooks are after?" Batgirl asked as she willingly followed Question into the Wayne Tech tower.
"Something high-tech?" Question offered.
Manhunter gave her a look, wondering if she was mocking them.
"This is Oracle," the voice came through radios in their various costumes, "the team breaking in is attempting to crack the vault in the basement."
As she heard that Question started to run and briskly asked, "Fastest route?"
"End of the hall and down stairs," Oracle answered them swiftly, "there's nothing fancy, I'm sorry to say."
"Heh," Batgirl chuckled at that as she bounded along while Manhunter took the rear, shaking her head slightly.
The three raced down the stairs, even as Batgirl readied some smoke bombs, just in case. They ran down the hall, even as they heard a hissing sound, probably from the cutter the thieves were using to break in with.
Question gestured for the others to stop as she looked around the corner. There were several figures standing by the armored door, worse, a few of them were costumed crooks. That would make things more complicated.
"Who is it?" Manhunter asked grimly.
"Anarchy," Question said flatly, recognizing the red cloaked figure in the goofy hat. The young man was brilliant but hung around the wrong books, trying to apply those principals to a world decidedly uninterested in them.
"I thought he was a 'social justice' type," Batgirl mused, "why rob Wayne-Tech?"
"Good question," Manhunter nodded. "Is that Cyborg Girl? I thought she ran with the Wonder Woman villains."
"Crime makes for strange bedfellows?" Question offered. "The other three look just to be average goons, I think."
"So what's the plan?" Batgirl asked.
Question looked over at Manhunter, "You have the high tech staff and armor, right?"
"I get Cyborg Girl, I assume?" Manhunter asked wryly.
"Pretty much," Question agreed, "while Batgirl and I take Anarky and the goons." She looked at Batgirl, "Works?"
"Oh yeah," Batgirl grinned.
"I'll lead the way," and wit almost no warning Manhunter burst from cover, she staff firing off a burst of jets to propel her along.
"Ack!" Question yelped, then hurried after her to provide back up.
"Incoming!" Anarky yelled as the three heroes practically teleported up the hall at them.
"Defensive program, activating," Cyborg Girl said flatly, her arm reshaping itself into a canon.
'That was awfully mechanical sounding,' Batgirl thought as she chucked her smoke bombs, using them to fill the hall with smoke and cover their approach.
"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me," the safe cracker complained bitterly.
AS the energy blast zipped by her, Manhunter dodged sideways a bit, even as she raced by Anarky. She slammed into Cyborg Girl hard, rocking her backwards, though it felt a little like hitting a brick wall.
'She didn't really react?' Manhunter blinked.
Question bodilly tackled Anarky, slamming the man backwards. As she hit the figure in the billowing robes she got the impression of a small, slim man underneath, which fit what she had heard. Apparently Anarky really was a young kid, under the costume.
Batgirl bounded by, readying a batarrang as she confronted the safe crackers. "I'd really rather you gave up," she said honestly.
The three men exchanged looks. "And if we don't?" the man who had been working on the safe asked grimly.
"We beat you up and hand you over to the cops," Batgirl shrugged.
"You're THAT confident?" the other man asked.
Batgirl gave all three men a look. "This IS Gotham city, you know," she reminded them, much like you would a foolish child.
There was a beat of silence as they considered. "She's got a point," the leader admitted and they put down their tools.
"Good help is SO hard to find," Anarky grumbled as he traded punches with Question.
"Tell me about it." Question rocked his head back with a stunning blow as she asked, "So what's your deal, sparky?"
"Hmm?" Anarky asked as he tried to drive her back with his staff.
"This isn't your usual type of job," Question pressed even as she kicked at him, "what's up?"
Suddenly he spun his staff around, pointing the end at her. Reflexedly Question ducked, even as a bolt of energy burst from the end.
"Awk!" Question yelped.
VERY quickly Anarky regretted that move. Question attacked faster and harder, with dangerous, fluid movements. He swiftly realized she had been holding back, and despite his own skills he was barely keeping up with her.
Meanwhile, Manhunter was feeling rather bemused in her fight with Cyborg Girl. She was engaging Manhunter entirely mechanically, just standing there stiffly as she fired off energy bolts. Which, admittedly, were dangerous but not exactly hard to dodge.
"This is just odd," Manhunter muttered to herself, then a dangerous idea occurred to her. She weighed it a few moments, then decided to try it. Her teammates would pick up the slack if she was wrong.
"What the hell?" Question blinked as Manhunter dropped her staff and walked towards the cyborg with hands open.
Cyborg Girl just... looked at her and didn't react. She just looked kinda blank.
"I think she's just a robot," Manhunter noted, still being careful to stay out of reach, just in case she was wrong.
Anarky cured softly. "Cyborg Girl!" he called, "Evasion mode! Escape, now!"
Before anyone could react the steel and flesh woman was gone, racing down the hall like a shot. As she fled Anarky raised his hands, clearly surrendering.
"Oh poo," Batgirl sighed.
Not long after the cops arrived, they trussed up Anarky & the safe busters, and they were winding down in a nearby twenty-four hour eatery. The wait staff looked more amused than anything else, delivering coffee and donuts for them.
"So, Oracle," Manhunter asked, "any idea what they were after?"
Over their various cowl radios she answered, "Well, I cracked the encryption on the vault indexes, there were several devices being developed by STAR labs for Cyborg being stored there."
"Upgrading Cyborg Girl?" Question wondered.
"Or repairing her," Manhunter noted, "you saw how robotic she was?"
"That appears to be the case," Oracle agreed, "I bounced some video of your fight over to Sarah Charles at STAR Labs. She thinks the side effects of her drug use coupled with the cybernetics may have had unforseen side effects on her."
"Now I feel bad that we stopped them," Batgirl admitted.
"They could have turned themselves in and gotten her help," Manhunter shrugged.
"We'll keep a eye out, I doubt Cyborg Girl will stay on the loose for long," Question added reassuringly.
To be continued...
Notes: I really SUCK writing fight scenes. Sorry.