"Why couldn't I have gone with the chicks," asked Roy Harper for the
eighth time. "I mean with all due respect to you, Jesse, and Argent, there
is absolutely nothing here for me. What can I accomplish by storming the
Clocktower. I am not the great escape artist; that's Dick. I can be
intimidating. I can get information out of informants, I can..."
"Fall all over yourself trying to impress the ladies," sighed Black Canary as she looked up the tower, trying to remember all of the security lectures she and Babs had had. "That is why you are with us. Here you might actually be a little useful, there you would get in the way 'impressing the ladies.' Now shut up and let me think for a minute."
"Oh that's not true, I can be focused," implored Harper. "Ain't that right Argent."
"Oh yeah, you can focus," agreed Argent. "As long as there are no women around with which you think you could possibly have a chance at."
"No respect," said Arsenal doing his best Rodney Dangerfield walking away. "I get no respect."
Cyclops and Iceman approached Black Canary and Scott cleared his throat. "Ma'am, excuse me? What do you got?"
Dinah Lance turned to look coldly at the mutants. " 'Ma'am?' 'MA'AM?!' Do I look like a ma'am to you?!?"
Bobby Drake began to snicker as Scott Summers scrambled for cover. "Uh, no you are not a ma'am, uh, sorry?"
"Darn right you are sorry. I'll let it go this once cause you are so cute when you blush like that," said Black Canary with a slight purr in her voice, which caused Cyclops to blush even more. "What we have is very simple. The Clocktower was constructed to be a fortress to protect her, and the security measures are upgraded often. I can guarantee that there will be a bunch of traps of all different sorts that will be meant to compensate for all of our abilities and more.
"Fortunately for us, the majority of the traps are non-lethal, although you won't feel great if you tagged by one of them. The higher you go, the more intense the traps become though. The only way to disengage the traps after we break in is at the main console in the apartment. Unfortunately, only I can disengage the traps, as it requires my voice authorization. Therefore, the goal is to get me to that console, and from there we can take our time.
"Alright Bobby, sounds like the Danger Room," said Cyclops to the Iceman. "We are ready. Alright, here is the plan. We stay close and no one takes off. We know what powers we have, but unfortunately we have never worked together on anything. This is our first time, and the stakes are high, the risk great. Watch each other's back, and we should do fine."
The group stood in front of the door, standing behind Cyclops preparing to enter. "She still did not answer when you rang the bell," asked Summers.
"Nope," said Lance. "We gotta do this the hard way."
"Alright," said Cyclops. "We move fast, stay together and get to that console. Let's go."
Cyclops aimed at the door, turned up his visor all the way up, and let loose, blowing the door. With that, the group charged into the building, eerily silent, preparing for whatever awaited them. They did not have to wait long. Tasers appeared out of the walls and began to attack, while strobe lights flashed meaning to disorient any invaders. While Arsenal and Canary ducked and dodged the tasers, Jesse Quick and Iceman teamed up to take out the tasers, while Cyclops and Argent took out the strobes.
Arsenal looked down at the end of the hall, and saw the elevator doors. Grabbing a pair of exploding arrows, he quickly notched and let fly. The resulting blast blew the doors, and the elevator car. It also caused the security system to notice the Archer, and let fly with restraining ties. Bound with metallic cords, Arsenal yelled in pain, as the cords tightened. Seeing his ally in trouble, Cyclops let loose his beams twice to dislodge the former sidekick, who dropped to the ground, nodded his thanks and ran quickly to the blown doors. The others followed him.
"Way to blow the car. Now how are we supposed to get up the car" asked Jesse Quick.
Arsenal was about to answer, but Canary interrupted. "The car was more trouble than it would be worth. So many traps in there, we wouldn't have been able to use it. We'll just have to climb."
Cyclops shook his head and said, "I think I have a better means. Iceman, you know what to do. Everyone stand on top of the remains of the car. We are going to go up, quick, so be ready. Arsenal, Argent, you are going to have to help me take care of any traps as they come up. When we get to the floor, Argent and I are going to aim our blasts at the door, and then Jesse, you gotta grab Canary and get to that console as fast as you can so that the traps can be disabled. We clear?" Seeing their nods, they began to ascend, thanks to a platform of Ice provided by Bobby Drake. Argent, Cyclops and Arsenal dispelled the traps as best they could as they rose, and Jesse and Black Canary were able to destroy those that their comrades missed.
Upon reaching the floor in question, Cyclops blew the door and then blew the door to get to the inner sanctum of the Oracle. "GO! GO! GO" yelled Cyclops, as Jesse grabbed the Canary and took off for the door. Jesse was able to avoid most of the traps and penetrated the rooms of the Oracle. However, the computer had been tracking Jesse's speed and movements, and using this, aimed a taser attack to her calf muscle. Connecting, Jesse collapsed, sending Canary flying. Canary tucked and rolled, coming to her feet. Leaping and dodging over a variety of nets and traps, Canary was able to reach the console and yelled into the microphone as she placed her hand on the palm reader, "SECURITY SHUT DOWN, AUTHORIZATION, BLACK CANARY!" A hum was heard through the building and Dinah Lance put forth an audible sigh. "It's OK...its turned off."
It was at this time that the Canary got to look around at her friend's apartment. It was trashed, and she didn't think it was all cause of the attempts to break into the tower. Someone had been here. Furniture was smashed, clothes were strewn all over the place, and Oracle's computers.... "Oh my god," whispered Dinah as she helped Jesse Quick get to a couch that was not damaged.
There were two sets of computers in Oracle's lair. One that ran the security system, and one that ran Oracle's complex system of networks and link-ups. The security system computers were fine. But the other set were burned out, totally destroyed. While Black Canary was no computer genius, she didn't have to be to know that these computers would never work again. This was a direct attack on Oracle. She knew now that Oracle wasn't responding cause she chose not to.
She couldn't respond.
Arsenal walked in with the rest of the team and said, "She had puke gas? Puke gas, Oracle really is one...what happened?"
Black Canary's voice got hard. "I don't know. But we are going to fan out. Look around for any evidence of what happened here. We won't be getting anything off the computers. We'll have to do this the old fashioned way. Fan out."
BC began to pick through the remnants of the computer, and Cyclops watched her. He had heard that tone before in his own voice and in others. Something had happened to make this escalate. It had always been personal to her; Cyclops knew that. But now, now there was something more. Something based in fear. And anger. That could be dangerous. Or useful.
Cyclops was shaken out of his reverie by the cries of the Iceman. "SCOTT!! Scott come quick!!" The entire assembled team ran toward Bobby Drake, with the exception of Jesse Quick, who hobbled. Bobby Drake stood in front of a bed, where there lay Barbara Gordon, otherwise known as the Oracle. She was beaten and unconscious. Her arms looked to be broken, and there was dried blood that was caked on her. While the bleeding had stopped, she had lost a lot of blood. Cyclops knelt down and quietly took her pulse.
"It's weak, but its there," concluded Cyclops. "Iceman, grab some materials for splints. We need to get her out of here. Argent, Jesse, could you clear out some of the debris so we can figure out a way to get her down? Black Canary, is there a doctor you could call? Who knows?"
"Yeah...yeah, I do," said a tired Black Canary. Black Canary walked out of the room, grabbing her cell phone. Arsenal followed.
"Dinah...I am so sorry," said an apologetic Arsenal. "I know she was a good friend of yours. I can't even begin to tell you how bad I feel."
"Thanks Arsenal, but that's not why I am torn up," said Black Canary. "I feel horrible about what happened to Babs. She is a great person, and she did not deserve this. But at least she is here, and they can't do anything more to her. We can't say the same about the others"
Arsenal looked hard at Black Canary. "What are you trying to say Dinah," asked Arsenal quietly.
"Look at what they did to Barbara," said Black Canary pointing at the room. "It was vicious, brutal, and methodical. Yet she is still here. They stopped hurting her. Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin are still missing. If they did that to Barbara, who is a paraplegic, what do you think they will do to those four? Roy, I think that Batman and his family are in serious trouble. We need to find out where they are, fast. And, I don't know if we have a lot of time."
"Fall all over yourself trying to impress the ladies," sighed Black Canary as she looked up the tower, trying to remember all of the security lectures she and Babs had had. "That is why you are with us. Here you might actually be a little useful, there you would get in the way 'impressing the ladies.' Now shut up and let me think for a minute."
"Oh that's not true, I can be focused," implored Harper. "Ain't that right Argent."
"Oh yeah, you can focus," agreed Argent. "As long as there are no women around with which you think you could possibly have a chance at."
"No respect," said Arsenal doing his best Rodney Dangerfield walking away. "I get no respect."
Cyclops and Iceman approached Black Canary and Scott cleared his throat. "Ma'am, excuse me? What do you got?"
Dinah Lance turned to look coldly at the mutants. " 'Ma'am?' 'MA'AM?!' Do I look like a ma'am to you?!?"
Bobby Drake began to snicker as Scott Summers scrambled for cover. "Uh, no you are not a ma'am, uh, sorry?"
"Darn right you are sorry. I'll let it go this once cause you are so cute when you blush like that," said Black Canary with a slight purr in her voice, which caused Cyclops to blush even more. "What we have is very simple. The Clocktower was constructed to be a fortress to protect her, and the security measures are upgraded often. I can guarantee that there will be a bunch of traps of all different sorts that will be meant to compensate for all of our abilities and more.
"Fortunately for us, the majority of the traps are non-lethal, although you won't feel great if you tagged by one of them. The higher you go, the more intense the traps become though. The only way to disengage the traps after we break in is at the main console in the apartment. Unfortunately, only I can disengage the traps, as it requires my voice authorization. Therefore, the goal is to get me to that console, and from there we can take our time.
"Alright Bobby, sounds like the Danger Room," said Cyclops to the Iceman. "We are ready. Alright, here is the plan. We stay close and no one takes off. We know what powers we have, but unfortunately we have never worked together on anything. This is our first time, and the stakes are high, the risk great. Watch each other's back, and we should do fine."
The group stood in front of the door, standing behind Cyclops preparing to enter. "She still did not answer when you rang the bell," asked Summers.
"Nope," said Lance. "We gotta do this the hard way."
"Alright," said Cyclops. "We move fast, stay together and get to that console. Let's go."
Cyclops aimed at the door, turned up his visor all the way up, and let loose, blowing the door. With that, the group charged into the building, eerily silent, preparing for whatever awaited them. They did not have to wait long. Tasers appeared out of the walls and began to attack, while strobe lights flashed meaning to disorient any invaders. While Arsenal and Canary ducked and dodged the tasers, Jesse Quick and Iceman teamed up to take out the tasers, while Cyclops and Argent took out the strobes.
Arsenal looked down at the end of the hall, and saw the elevator doors. Grabbing a pair of exploding arrows, he quickly notched and let fly. The resulting blast blew the doors, and the elevator car. It also caused the security system to notice the Archer, and let fly with restraining ties. Bound with metallic cords, Arsenal yelled in pain, as the cords tightened. Seeing his ally in trouble, Cyclops let loose his beams twice to dislodge the former sidekick, who dropped to the ground, nodded his thanks and ran quickly to the blown doors. The others followed him.
"Way to blow the car. Now how are we supposed to get up the car" asked Jesse Quick.
Arsenal was about to answer, but Canary interrupted. "The car was more trouble than it would be worth. So many traps in there, we wouldn't have been able to use it. We'll just have to climb."
Cyclops shook his head and said, "I think I have a better means. Iceman, you know what to do. Everyone stand on top of the remains of the car. We are going to go up, quick, so be ready. Arsenal, Argent, you are going to have to help me take care of any traps as they come up. When we get to the floor, Argent and I are going to aim our blasts at the door, and then Jesse, you gotta grab Canary and get to that console as fast as you can so that the traps can be disabled. We clear?" Seeing their nods, they began to ascend, thanks to a platform of Ice provided by Bobby Drake. Argent, Cyclops and Arsenal dispelled the traps as best they could as they rose, and Jesse and Black Canary were able to destroy those that their comrades missed.
Upon reaching the floor in question, Cyclops blew the door and then blew the door to get to the inner sanctum of the Oracle. "GO! GO! GO" yelled Cyclops, as Jesse grabbed the Canary and took off for the door. Jesse was able to avoid most of the traps and penetrated the rooms of the Oracle. However, the computer had been tracking Jesse's speed and movements, and using this, aimed a taser attack to her calf muscle. Connecting, Jesse collapsed, sending Canary flying. Canary tucked and rolled, coming to her feet. Leaping and dodging over a variety of nets and traps, Canary was able to reach the console and yelled into the microphone as she placed her hand on the palm reader, "SECURITY SHUT DOWN, AUTHORIZATION, BLACK CANARY!" A hum was heard through the building and Dinah Lance put forth an audible sigh. "It's OK...its turned off."
It was at this time that the Canary got to look around at her friend's apartment. It was trashed, and she didn't think it was all cause of the attempts to break into the tower. Someone had been here. Furniture was smashed, clothes were strewn all over the place, and Oracle's computers.... "Oh my god," whispered Dinah as she helped Jesse Quick get to a couch that was not damaged.
There were two sets of computers in Oracle's lair. One that ran the security system, and one that ran Oracle's complex system of networks and link-ups. The security system computers were fine. But the other set were burned out, totally destroyed. While Black Canary was no computer genius, she didn't have to be to know that these computers would never work again. This was a direct attack on Oracle. She knew now that Oracle wasn't responding cause she chose not to.
She couldn't respond.
Arsenal walked in with the rest of the team and said, "She had puke gas? Puke gas, Oracle really is one...what happened?"
Black Canary's voice got hard. "I don't know. But we are going to fan out. Look around for any evidence of what happened here. We won't be getting anything off the computers. We'll have to do this the old fashioned way. Fan out."
BC began to pick through the remnants of the computer, and Cyclops watched her. He had heard that tone before in his own voice and in others. Something had happened to make this escalate. It had always been personal to her; Cyclops knew that. But now, now there was something more. Something based in fear. And anger. That could be dangerous. Or useful.
Cyclops was shaken out of his reverie by the cries of the Iceman. "SCOTT!! Scott come quick!!" The entire assembled team ran toward Bobby Drake, with the exception of Jesse Quick, who hobbled. Bobby Drake stood in front of a bed, where there lay Barbara Gordon, otherwise known as the Oracle. She was beaten and unconscious. Her arms looked to be broken, and there was dried blood that was caked on her. While the bleeding had stopped, she had lost a lot of blood. Cyclops knelt down and quietly took her pulse.
"It's weak, but its there," concluded Cyclops. "Iceman, grab some materials for splints. We need to get her out of here. Argent, Jesse, could you clear out some of the debris so we can figure out a way to get her down? Black Canary, is there a doctor you could call? Who knows?"
"Yeah...yeah, I do," said a tired Black Canary. Black Canary walked out of the room, grabbing her cell phone. Arsenal followed.
"Dinah...I am so sorry," said an apologetic Arsenal. "I know she was a good friend of yours. I can't even begin to tell you how bad I feel."
"Thanks Arsenal, but that's not why I am torn up," said Black Canary. "I feel horrible about what happened to Babs. She is a great person, and she did not deserve this. But at least she is here, and they can't do anything more to her. We can't say the same about the others"
Arsenal looked hard at Black Canary. "What are you trying to say Dinah," asked Arsenal quietly.
"Look at what they did to Barbara," said Black Canary pointing at the room. "It was vicious, brutal, and methodical. Yet she is still here. They stopped hurting her. Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin are still missing. If they did that to Barbara, who is a paraplegic, what do you think they will do to those four? Roy, I think that Batman and his family are in serious trouble. We need to find out where they are, fast. And, I don't know if we have a lot of time."