{the anxious spoiler}
-The savage, in whom is embodied the free man, is nearly as restless in a palace as in a prison-
She was going insane from the boredom. No, really. Oracle wouldn't let her touch anything, and it was so annoying, she couldn't stand it! Stephanie just paced around at first, trying to figure out what she was doing. The perfect scenario for this to end. Me, free and happy. But that won't happen. And thus, she needed the Ghost. Alive. Unharmed. Shit, she was so over her head. And the thing was, she felt as though she was at her wit's end. If I get arrested, will I still be killed?
"Can you not?"
Stephanie looked at Jason Todd, who was sporting a lovely wheelchair. The same exact one as Oracle had, actually. Sleek, light looking, not bulky at all. There were no handles though, which struck Stephanie as interesting, but she never commented. Oracle seemed like a really cool person. However, she seemed to want to pretend that Stephanie didn't exist. Like that was new to her, or something.
"What?" Steph asked, throwing out her arms defensively. "I'm not doing anything."
"Your walking is making my headache worse." Jason's eyes bore into hers, and she saw that they were a delightfully icy shade of green. "Stop it. Now. Uh, please."
She stared at him for a moment, surprised. He was rubbing his temples, and she looked around curiously. The place was deserted though. Oracle had sent everyone out to pick up the slack, because apparently Batman wasn't around? It really made no sense to her, but she was only there for Ghost. And maybe for Catlad. But mostly for Ghost.
Steph wandered over to Jason's side, and he looked at her, and groaned. She smiled, leaning backwards against one of Oracle's desks. "So," she said conversationally. "You're Jason Todd, huh?"
"That's what it says on the target taped to my back," Jason said, placing his elbow on his armrest, and then resting his cheek against his knuckles. "The glamorous life of Jason Todd. One day just minding my own business, trying to survive high school, next day I wake up from a four year coma. And I'm twenty now. I'm fucking twenty years old. I don't feel like a twenty year old, okay, I feel like I'm supposed to take the SATs next Saturday."
"You missed the SATs?" Stephanie asked curiously. "Wow. Lucky. I mean, I never got to go to college, but I did take that stupid test."
"Was it as horrible as everyone says?" Jason asked, sounding disinterested.
"Worse."
"Well, fuck," Jason said, clapping his armrests. "Thank you, Joker, for saving me from that torture."
Stephanie burst into laughter, which caused Oracle to glance back at them. "So what are you going to do now?" Stephanie asked, watching him curiously. "Like, are you going to try to go back to school?"
Jason looked up at her, his eyes narrowing. "Would you?" he asked with a scoff.
"Well, with the proper motivation." She grinned and poked his cheek. "Come on, don't be a bum. What did you want to be when you grew up?"
"Uh," Jason said, tilting his head back. "That's a really great question. It changed a lot when I was younger, and then when I was about… ten, or so, I just wanted to be something." That caused Stephanie to feel a strange sense of pity for him, and she stared down at the top of his head. He looked up at her, and he shrugged. "How about you? Did you ever think you'd end up being an assassin?"
"Ha," she snorted. "Ha ha! As if. Well, when I was like, five I wanted to be Superman." Stephanie gave a long, melodramatic sigh, and she shook her head sadly. "As you can see by the boobs and total lack of bulging muscles, that didn't work out. But uh, I guess I wanted to be a doctor for awhile. Like a children's doctor, where the entire place is really colorful and there's toys in the office and the waiting room, and pretty murals." Stephanie smiled fondly, and she shrugged. "My daddy didn't really like that idea. Thought I'd be a better thief."
"That sucks," Jason said. Then he frowned, and looked up at her. "Hey, who was your dad?"
"Oh." She scratched her head, and gave a sheepish laugh. "Uh, Cluemaster. He was really shitty."
"Shit!" Jason straightened up to get a better look at her face. "Shit, you're Kid Clue!"
"Oh my god," Stephanie said, clasping her head in disbelief. "Ew, you've heard of me! That means you probably saw my dorky-ass outfit!"
"That thing was horrible," Jason laughed. He shook his head, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Like, that was really awful, why did you go along with wearing that prison jumpsuit?"
"Uh, because my dad would have been an ass and beaten me half to Blüdhaven if I didn't." She saw Jason's expression, and she shook her head. "He's rotting in jail right now, so no worries. Totally got what he deserved."
"I hope you beat the shit out of him first," Jason growled, sinking low into his seat.
"Uh, Batman did." Stephanie smiled a little at the memory. "And from that day on, Batman rose like, two steps on my favorite hero scale. Still behind Wonder Woman and Superman though."
Jason barked a laugh, and then it seemed he couldn't stop. He clasped her arm, giving her a gentle shove. "Oh my god, I like you," Jason said, still chuckling. "Babs, I like her! We should keep her."
"Not an option, Jay," Oracle said.
He looked up at Stephanie, and shrugged. "Worth a try."
"Okay," Oracle said, rolling toward them. "I've got info on the blood sample and knives, but not so much the kunai. Our little ghost doesn't seem to exist, as far as my data goes."
"Well," Jason said, staring at her blankly. "He's a ghost."
"Not funny." Oracle held up one of the knives that Stephanie had nearly stolen from Tim. It was sleek and beautiful and old. It looked like it belonged in a museum somewhere. "So, here is a weird little weapon. Wouldn't use it to kill, more like hang it up on my wall. I did some digging, and the steel on this thing has been reinforced with some chemical that I can't trace."
"So it's hard as like, the David's balls, is what you're saying?" Jason asked, taking the knife in his hand. He spun it, and tilted his head. "Sweet."
"Not what I'd compare it to, but sure." Oracle adjusted her glasses, and pointed to the inlaid owl near the hilt of the blade, which appeared to be gilded. "This is gold. I'd date it back a few centuries. I tried to find get some particles off it, maybe get some recognition on where it came from. Nothing. This thing has been wiped clean so many times, I'm surprised the metal hasn't eroded."
"So, you found nothing?" Jason offered. Oracle looked at him with an expression that was so sharp, Steph wasn't surprised when Jason merely leaned back in his seat and drummed his fingers against his armrests.
"I ended up figuring out where the gold came from." Oracle shrugged. "I'll spare you the details, since I know you hate them. The gold is newer than the knives, and was replaced about… two centuries ago. The knives are from four centuries ago."
"That sounds jolly," Jason said. "And by jolly, I mean awful. Okay, so whose knife is it?"
Steph was staring at the owl, and she frowned as she found herself in thought. Oracle sighed, and shook her head. "I have a theory, but you'll think I'm crazy."
"The Court of Owls?" Steph offered. Jason and Oracle looked at her sharply, and Oracle studied her for a few moments before nodding.
"That is precisely what I was thinking." She pushed her hair back, sighing softly. "The Court of Owls legend has been around as long as Gotham. Who knows, it could have existed."
"Back the fuck up," Jason said, raising his hands into the air. "You think a nursery rhyme is out to get me?"
"Oh, please, weirder things have wanted to kill you," Oracle said. She rolled her eyes, and Jason glared at her, but said nothing. "I got a match on the blood sample too. Except, you know, can't be simple." She held up a file, and Jason took it. Stephanie leaned over his shoulder to read the contents. There was a picture of a tiny boy with a skinny face and skinny shoulders, his eyes big and bright and the bluer than the sky. He wore a giant grin, toothy and excited as if he was trying to contain a shout of delight.
"Oh my gosh," Steph cooed, leaning over. "I want to take him home, he's adorable!"
"He's dead," Jason said. Stephanie slumped, scowling a bit to herself. Of course he was. Jason looked up at Oracle, and he looked puzzled. "The guy who attacked us was an adult. What's this kid— oh."
"Oh?" Stephanie blinked. "What oh?"
"Oh," Oracle said, gingerly pressing her knuckles to her lips. "His death was faked. He must have been kidnapped from the circus when he was a child. Raised to be a killer." Oracle took the file back, and she stared at it for a few moments. "Richard Grayson. An Acrobat from Haly's Circus. Do you remember when that used to come to town?"
"No," Jason said. "I never had money for the circus."
"Me either," Stephanie said glumly.
"God," Oracle muttered, pinching her nose beneath her glasses. "Someone should really give you— both of you— a real childhood."
"Take us to the circus," Jason said, smirking down at the woman. "I mean, as long as there's not clowns."
"Maybe someday, Jason," she said, smiling a bit as she looked back down at the file. "It says here he and his family died sixteen years ago. He should be about twenty five now."
"Poor kid," Steph said.
"Poor kid grew up," Oracle said, snapping the file shut. "Now he's lethal and after Jason. And we're going to take him down."
"And find Ghost," Steph said.
"Yes," Oracle said, nodding. "And find Ghost."
"Maybe they're working together," Jason said, leaning on his hand with a bored expression. "Ever think of that?"
"Well… it's a possibility, but—"
A streak of yellow slid through the room, skidding to a stop before them. Kid Flash was standing hunched over, his eyes big and terrified. He was clutching something to his chest, some kind of thin black rope. He looked between the three of them, and Stephanie noticed how pale he appeared. His face was ashen, and his lips were trembling.
"I'm sorry," he blurted, looking on the verge of tears. "I'm so sorry, I left him, and I knew it was a bad idea I could feel that it was a bad idea, but I had to run after Harley, and then when I came back he was gone, and there was blood everywhere, and I'm so sorry!" He bowed his head, jerking his arms out. In a twisted bundle, there was a black whip. Stephanie stared at it blankly.
"What?" Jason asked flatly as Oracle took the whip. She looked up at Kid Flash, and her face suddenly became hard, her eyes flashing dangerously.
"What happened to Tim?" she asked, her voice sharp, urgent, frightened.
"The Joker." Bart took a deep breath, pulling his yellow cowl back, and his eyes glistened with unshed tears. "The Joker got him."
Note: Dun dun dun. Dun. Well that's unpleasant. But lol is there anything pleasant about this story (the rabbit hole gang, just say it, they're basically the happiest part of this damn story).
Vic Hugo. Where he go, I dunno.
