Hack's typical note: As always, these characters belong to DC Comics, and their respective creators. I'm just borrowing them, I'll put them back!
It had been an exceptionally long night in Paris for Jean Paul. Azrael had dragged him all over the city after their brief encounter with the Crimson Fox, pointing out various areas that were important to the Du Valley family. Jean Paul had found it all very tiresome, if informative. Still, upon waking this fine morning, only one thought had stayed with him.
Why in the world would she just drop a card with her full name and an address on it?
Retrieving the card in question from where Azrael had stowed it in his armor, Jean Paul sat down at the desk in his hotel room. He pulled his laptop over in front of him, hit the power button, and sat idly fiddling with the video camera perched on top of it while waiting for his customized Lexmark machine to boot up. Once it was finally ready, he double-clicked the "Connect to the Internet" icon on his desktop, which cleverly hid the link to Oracle's custom suite of programs.
Jean Paul got up to get a soda from the mini-fridge in his room as he waited for all the programs to start and connect with Oracle's equipment back in Gotham. Unfortunately for Jean Paul, he didn't quite realize how fast Oracle's equipment truly was, as he suddenly heard a wolf whistle emitting from his computer speakers, just as he bent over to pull the soda from the 'fridge.
"Wow, bright-eyes, you never told me you wore batman print boxer shorts!" Barbara quipped from across the 'net.
Suddenly aware that he was still in his sleeping attire, Jean Paul turned around to face the monitor, his face now a bright shade of crimson. Right in front of him was Barbara's smiling face in a video chat window.
"A bit of advice, stud," she continued ribbing him, "If things get hot and heavy between you and the mysterious Fox, you might want to wear a different pair of underwear..."
Jean Paul quickly sat back down in front of the monitor, being careful to slide forward until all that was visible to the video camera was his head and shoulders.
"You weren't supposed to see that!" He admonished her.
"What, you think you boys are the only ones that keep pics around here?" Barbara smiled knowingly, having already checked the contents of Jean Paul's hard drive. "Or is 'Foxy 1' not what I think it is?"
Finally not being able to handle any more embarrasment, Jean Paul broke out laughing. "You just don't quit, do you?"
"Somebody has to pop all the testosterone-fuelled egos around here. Might as well be me!" Oracle continued to smile, as the red began to fade from Jean Paul's face. "Now, I know you didn't log in just to give me a peep show, so what can I do for you?"
Jean Paul grinned, knowing that Barbara only picked on the people she actually liked. "Well, I sort of have a strange question for you. After the battle last night, the Fox dropped a card for me with her real name and address on it, and I'm wondering why! Any ideas?"
Oracle's eyebrows rose as she processed this information. "She did what?"
Jean Paul held the card up in front of the video camera as proof.
"Well, that's the Fox for you," Barbara quipped, "But as for why? I couldn't really tell you."
"What, something the all-knowing Oracle doesn't know?" Jean Paul asked slyly. "I know you better than that, what aren't you telling me here?"
Oracle gave him a stern look, but answered anyway. "She's JLA, Jean Paul, and you aren't. Even if she did give you her name and address, as the JLA's official provider of data, I'm bound by oath not to reveal anything about them to an outsider."
Jean Paul's expression sank, as he had not considered this when coming to Oracle. "Is there any way I can find out background on her?"
"Well, you could fly back to Gotham and access the Batcomputer in the cave, if the boss let you.."
Jean Paul shook his head negatively. "Won't work, I have a 'date' with her at seven here tonight. I don't think even a concorde would get me back and forth that quickly."
Oracle thought on the problem for a moment, leaning off-screen from her message window. Finally she reappeared, "There might be a way. If you could convince a member of the JLA to take you up to the Watchtower, you might be able to view files there as a guest, if J'onn permits you to. But Batman is rather busy at the moment, so I don't know how you'd manage to swing that."
Jean Paul only smiled, as another Leaguer came to mind. "Don't worry, Oracle, I think I can handle it. The problem is finding a transport tube here in Paris."
Oracle only smiled, then hit a button on her keyboard. Instantly another window opened on Jean Paul's desktop, with an address he had not seen before. "Try here, if and ONLY if you get someone to set you up a visitor's pass. Otherwise you might not survive the automated defenses."
"Thank you, Barbara. I owe you one."
"I'll add it to the rest you owe me, Bright-eyes." She smiled, then signed off with one last quip – "But remember, I have pictures of your bat-inspired sleepwear!"
Jean Paul could only sigh as he hunted up his cellular phone. He dialed a now-familiar number in Seattle, and was greeted with a slightly sleepy, and quite grumpy "This better be good.."
"Hey, sensai, it's Jean Paul. Sorry to wake you, but I've got another question about women for you. Well, actually, just one woman.."
"Heh, you're a chip off the old block! Ask away, grasshopper!"
It took Jean Paul some serious convincing to get the Green Arrow to agree to helping him get into the Watchtower, even if it was to research the Crimson Fox's past. "You're removing the mystery, son, and women prize their mysteries.."
Eventually he did talk Ollie into taking him up to the JLA's fortress on the moon. It took some doing, as Ollie is only a reserve member, but a quick phone call from Ollie to J'onn later, followed by another quick chat with Oracle, and he was set up as an official visitor. Donning his costume, he made his way across the rooftops of Paris to the address Oracle had supplied him. Surprisingly, it turned out to be just an ordinary business office building, and Jean Paul wasn't sure he was in the right place until he managed to make his way to the basement. There, hidden behind a false panel in a janitor's closet, was a control panel and a very solid-looking door.
Jean Paul took off his helmet, laid his hand upon the datapad while a retinal scanner checked his identity. He typed in his name and temporary password, and the door slid open to reveal a large tube. "Watchtower," he spoke in Azrael's voice, then stepped into the tube.
The trip was nothing like he expected. He felt like his whole body had been torn to shreds and reassembled, and fell out of the tube face-first to the floor, gripping his stomach lest its contents chose to make a return trip.
"I'm told it's always that way the first couple times," croaked a familiar voice from beside him. "Just breathe normally, it'll pass quick enough. And don't feel bad, I threw up all over Arthur's boots the first time he dragged me up here."
Jean Paul opened his eyes to find Green Arrow bending over him. "Hello, Sensai. Sorry to drag you out of bed."
"And I'm NOT sorry I didn't warn you about the teleporters." Ollie grinned as he removed his domino mask. "Serves you right, for talking me into coming up here."
Jean Paul smiled weakly, then slowly pushed himself up off the floor and stood. He took a moment to get his bearings, as the room he had arrived in was quite large. Several transport tubes stood around him, and he marvelled at all the electronics in the room.
"Wow, this place is even more impressive than I thought it would be," he remarked to his newest mentor. "How did they get all of this up here?"
Ollie merely grumbled "I bet Big Blue was involved somehow," then turned towards a doorway leading out of the room. "Come on, if you think this is nice, wait until you see the view!"
The two walked down a few long corridors, Jean Paul marvelling at the equipment all the way. Eventually Ollie reached the door he wanted, which slid open at his approach. He led Azrael into a large rec room, dominated by a pool table in the center of the room, and a viewport that filled one wall.
Jean Paul could only stand there, open-mouthed, as he stared out the viewport. Before him was the landscape of the moon, boring, bland, but altogether fascinating to a young man who never expected to see it in person. Still, as intriguing as the moonscape was, it couldn't compare with the blue and white orb hanging seemingly a few feet above it.
"Oh, my god," Jean Paul exclaimed like a schoolboy, "Is that the Earth?"
Ollie only grinned at the younger man's antics, then put on a stern look. "What? Don't tell me you've never seen pictures of the Earth from space before, boy!"
Jean Paul grinned sheepishly. "You're right, I have. But I never thought I'd see it in person! This is.."
Ollie held up a hand to stop Jean Paul. "If you say 'this is so awesome,' I swear I'm going to drop you off with The Flash and Green Lantern." At Jean Paul's confused look, Ollie broke back into a winning smile. "I swear, you boys are peas in a pod."
Jean Paul could only stand there, caught between being amazed at the sights he was seeing, and his mentor's ribbing.
"Heh, lose the puppy-dog eyes, boyo, save 'em for the ladies." Ollie said with a smile, then indicated a workstation along one wall of the room. "Go ahead and look up what you need on that, while I rack up the pool table. Something tells me I need to teach you the fine art of pool while we're up here, too."
All Azrael could do was give Ollie another quizzical look as he moved over to the indicated workstation. Typing his name and password in again, he was pleasantly surprised when he gained access to the personnel files. "Not the greatest security in the world," he commented aloud.
A new voice from the door startled him. "Security in here may seem lax, Azrael," came the deep booming voice, "But I assure you, if J'onn hadn't authorized your password himself, you'd be just so much cinders right now."
As Jean Paul looked up, a man in a suit of gleaming armor with a Superman "S" on its chest moved into the room. The large man took off his helmet, revealing a friendly-smiling John Henry Irons, aka Steel.
"Nice to meet you, Azrael," He said simply as he extended is hand in greeting.
Taking his hand, Jean Paul smiled back up at the Watchtower's number one technician. "Nice to meet you, as well, Steel. Jean Paul Valley, at your service."
Steel looked the young vigilante over, an nodded in apparent approval. "John Henry Irons, at yours. If you're ever in DC and need a hand looking around, look me up. But for now, I just wanted to see who could talk the old man over there into coming up to the Tower."
"Hey!" Came Ollie's voice from the pool table, "I resemble that remark!"
John Henry laughed merrily, then started back towards the door. "If either of you need anything, I'll be down in my lab. Just give me a shout over the intercom."
"Thanks," Jean Paul replied, then turned back to the page he was reading.
It says here that her strength, speed, and agility are all above normal for a human, and that she seems to have pheremone-based powers, as well. Jean Paul thought as he read, great, just what I need, another one..
Are you thinking of our disastrous run-in with Poison Ivy? Azrael remarked, breaking the silence he had held all day. It may explain why she was so casual with her identity. She may believe we are "under her spell."
Wouldn't be the first time, Jean Paul thought back at him, But now that we're aware of it, it might not end so bad this time...
One would hope, Azrael thought back before lapsing back into silence.
"Done yet?" Ollie said from behind him, causing Jean Paul to jump in his seat.
"I didn't think you could sneak up on me like that," Jean Paul stated uneasily, "I thought only Batman could do that.."
Ollie only gave him a stern look for the comment, then indicated the pool table. "I'll ignore the insult of comparing me to the Dork Knight if you'll join an 'old man' for a game or two before we subject ourselves to 'porting back out of here."
Jean Paul smiled as he closed the file he was reading and rose from his seat. "Sure, who knows, you might even teach me something."
Ollie "harrumphed" as they moved towards the pool table, then clapped the armored avenging angel on the back as he handed him a pool cue. "Fine then, you break."