AN: Thank you to all of you for my great reviews. You've been so very kind. I hope you continue to enjoy the fic.

OCL OS startup
userID: ORACLE
passkey: brucewayne -ACCEPTED
Files:open

- The Gotham Tribune – January Archives

GOTHAM WELCOMES NEW FUTURE WITH OPEN ARMS

A SPECIAL REPORT by JACK RYDER

IN THE EARLY HOURS of Tuesday morning, Gotham officials welcomed new Mayor Nathalie Lezaro into office, six months after the horrific events in Arkham City.

Following the events of the night of November 15th, which culminated in the subsequent resignation of Quincy Sharp, the oft-proclaimed 'cursed' position of Mayor has been left vacant.

Lezaro, pictured here with GCPD Commissioner James Gordon, was sworn into office following her successful "New Gotham" campaign and subsequent run for election, beating off stern competition.

Over the past few months Lezaro has become prominent as a humanitarian lawyer, in particular presiding over former Mayor Sharp's case, in which he pleaded severe mental illness as a result of his time in office.

"This is a finally a time for change," said Lezaro at her first public appearance on Thursday morning's press conference. "A chance for the people and Police of Gotham to restore their wounded city to its former glory."

When questioned regarding reports that masked vigilante Batman had contributed to the deaths of a number of Gotham's crime kingpins, most notably The Joker, she declined to comment. Gotham Tribune spoke to a member of the GCPD who did not want to be named:

"Batman carried Joker's body into Gotham, spoke to Commissioner Gordon and then disappeared. An armoured car came and took the body away. It was surreal. I didn't get a good look at the body, but the face looked terrible."

With the whereabouts of several of Joker's accomplices and high-profile villains unknown, Gotham's finest forces are combing the city.

"It will be a long time before Arkham City is fit for any kind of inhabitation," explained Commissioner Gordon at the conference. "But we are optimistic. Villains and criminals are running out of places to hide."

For more of Jack Ryder's views, news and interviews tune in to The Jack Ryder Show, Wednesdays and Fridays exclusive to GMC.

"Babs? Are you there? Open up, it's me."

Oracle wheeled around silently, tearing her tired eyes away from her computer screen. She peered through her wire-rimmed spectacles as if she could see through the armoured door of her lair. Finally, she pressed a button on the left-hand side of her curved desk and the heavy door slowly began to pull upwards. Her companion was instantly recognisable from his shoes and gait. She turned back to her computer and began to shut it down.

"You should know better than to be so loose-lipped, Dick." She eyed the closed security door. "There's no-one else here, but that doesn't mean you weren't followed."

Dick watched her arch her eyebrows and lay her slender hands on her thighs. She was dressed for the cold, although her shoulders were hunched together against it. Knowing her, she had probably been sat in her watchtower from evening until the early hours of this morning.

"I just wanted to see how you were." He drew a little closer to her, approaching the desk that curved around her wheelchair and leaning with his knuckles on the right side. "Anything interesting going on tonight?"

"Nothing besides the usual." She reached forward and turned off her monitor. "You were out late." The hint of a smile lingered on her thin lips. She brushed a few unruly curves behind her ear with her finger, then removed her headset.

"You were watching me?" Dick feigned flattery.

"Not just you," Oracle replied, a little too quickly. Dick smirked to himself. "I was keeping an eye on Robin. He was staking out the Courthouse."

Dick was unsurprised. "I thought I told him to steer clear. Two-Face has the lion's share of the gangs now. And they're armed – though God knows where they got their weapons."

"Yes," mused Oracle. "God knows, indeed."

"Are you done here?" Dick gestured to the neat piles of printed reports on the right-hand desk in front of him. "I'll come back with you."

"Thanks, but I don't need an escort."

"I know you don't," he said impatiently, eager to cut through the chit-chat. "Come on, Babs. I just wanted to see you."

She turned to the left deliberately. "I thought we both decided against that." Her hair slipped from behind her pinkening ear, curtaining her face.

"At least come down with me." Dick was unrelenting.

He followed her as she began to deftly wheel herself towards the door. She leant forward and heavily slapped her hand against the identification panel. A cool blue light scanned her palm and the mechanisms of the door clunked to a slow start.

"Alright," she said, turning back to him, "I'm certainly not leaving you locked in here for the night. You may as well come with me."

Dick tried not to get too hopeful. They hadn't spoken about much other than business as usual since the New Year. He followed her out, his booted feet echoing on the iron runway. The wheels of her chair were as silent as a whisper.

"How was your night?" she asked, out of courtesy more than anything. She had been watching him for most of the time, but she wasn't about to admit it. The burgeoning blush on her face gave her away.

"Quiet," he said tersely as they entered the lift shaft. He leant over and pressed the terminal button and the lift juddered, and began to steadily decline. "Two-Face's mooks have overrun the Museum. There is little to no sign of Cobblepot anywhere."

Oracle smirked. The City had fared poorly since the election of the new Mayor, and the turf was being divided night by night. The police were unable to do much except border the city and try to permeate its stronghold, but it was like an impregnable cell: break its walls and the contents would rush around like fluid, causing the force to be pushed back into the borders. She knew her father had been growing increasingly tired, waiting for the shadow cast by the megalomaniac Sharp to dissipate. He was notably quiet whenever anyone asked about the new Mayor: whether it was the Press or his own daughter handling the questions.

"He'll be somewhere in the underground, licking his wounds." She thought of Robin and Batman, the insiders trying to contain the city internally, slowly breaking up the crime syndicates and forcing them towards the city's outskirts. It would work, if there weren't so many places for villains to flee.

"And how are you?"

Barbara knew the question was coming. "I'm fine, thank you."

"You've been fine since November," answered Dick quickly. "That's an awful long time to stay the same."

"I'm not the same," she snapped, turning to face him. As quickly as her anger had come it was gone, leaving embarrassment in its place. "I – you know how things have been."

"I refuse to believe you haven't been affected in any way," Dick said, looking her straight in the eye. She longed to look away but denied herself the action. "Everyone has. You, me, Tim, Bruce, all those people that died-"

"I know."

"That cure never got to the people fast enough," Dick said matter-of-factly. "Even if Talia had caught Quinn earlier."

"Well, we all know how that ended, didn't we?" Oracle said coldly. "If she had been a bit more succinct, rather than trussing up Joker's girlfriend like a Christmas present-"

"Have you spoken to Bruce since…" Dick didn't need to elaborate.

"No." Not for lack of trying, she thought. After the night of Protocol Ten, Bruce had returned to his resolute self, abandoning his temporary mantle of non-existential coldness.

The lift juddered to a halt and Barbara began to wheel herself out onto the exit landing, with merely a backwards glance at her companion.

"Can I come with you?" He asked from behind her. "I promise, as soon as you're home, I'll go."

She turned around to face him again, an incredulous look on her face. A shaft of light leaked through from the ajar exit door, illuminating her pale angular cheekbones and jawline. She looked quite striking. If Dick hadn't known her well, he might have been intimidated.

"Think of it as a favour to an old friend," he said, cocking his head. She could see the sincerity in his eyes, beyond his cowl and the shadows it cast upon his face.

"Fine," she said curtly, wheeling down to the door and prising it open. With a sigh, she said "And you needn't pretend it's a favour, either."

Dick smiled and followed her out into the cold morning.